I was very impressed with the mentor.  He seemed very eager to help the young man succeed.  I thought to myself that he is exactly the kind of person I am looking for in a mentor.  I wondered if he would be willing to take on a similar mentoring role with me.  I read the article again to see if it mentioned his contact information.  It didn’t.  All I had was his name and where he worked (BDC).  I then went on the BDC website to search for his name.  Nothing either.  I could start calling each BDC branch one at a time, but it would be time consuming. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to say to him.  Personally, I’m a big fan of email.  I like getting a conversation going through email first before a face to face meeting.  It allows the exchange of basic information.  There is also less pressure on both sides and it is less intrusive (I find it annoying when I receive a call from someone, who wasn’t referred to me by somone I know, asking to meet me…it doesn’t seem natural).  If the email exchange goes well, I then suggest a meeting in person.

The problem here was that I couldn’t find the gentleman’s email address anywhere.  I then had a great idea…a real ‘long shot’.  Anyone with a corporate email address will notice that  it usually follows one of several patterns:  lastname.firstname@company.com, firstname@company.com, “x”lastname@company.com (where ‘x’ is the first letter of the first name), etc.  What I decided to do was to send an email to all these different email combinations, hoping at least one of them would hit.  I kept the email very simple.  I talked briefly about my startup and the progress I made so far.  I also included a link to my website, in case he was interested in learning more about me.  Here is the email I sent:

Like I mentioned, this was a long shot.  The odds of reaching this person was small and the odds he would reply even smaller.  However, within a few days, the gentleman replied.  Not only was he willing to answer my questions, he insisted we meet in person the following week.  Our meeting went extremely well.  Pending some administrative stuff, we will start our mentoring partenership shortly.  This just goes to show that every once in a while, we need to take long shots in life (whether in our personal or professional lives).  It’s only our fear of rejection that is keeping us from taking these risks.

Why not just pick up the phone and ask to speak with the president of a big company to explain why your product or service can make his or her life easier?  Don’t think it will work?  It worked for a friend of mine who has his own business planning software company.  A few years ago, he called up the then President and CEO of Corel, Michael Cowpland.  He didn’t know Mr. Cowpland in person so he called the general number and talked to the receptionist.  Amazingly, there were very few barriers and within a few minutes, he was speaking directly to Mr. Cowpland himself.  He introduced himself and explained how including his software alongside Corel Wordperfect could make Corel’s product offering more competitive and help differentiate if from MS Office.  Mr. Cowpland asked him to visit his office that same afternoon.  My friend then met with Mr. Cowpland, along with senior members of his product development team.  Shortly thereafter, he won a licensing contract to include a copy of his business planning software with Corel Wordperfect.

Take long shots every once in a while (i.e. huge potential payoff, little chance of success but zero downside).  You’d be surprised at how a seemingly crazy idea may end up being one of the greatest decisions you’ve ever made.  Someone once told me that when you take risks, things happen.  You disrupt the status quo and set things in motion.  You create ripples in otherwise calm waters. Yet, one of those ripples can potentially transform itself into a powerful wave.  It’s true that the odds are not in your favor.  But then again, what have you got to lose?

A recent encounter I had brought to light the importance of effective communication.  It also demonstrated how easily a simple problem can become complex when we use an ‘inflexible’ style of communication.  The  incident happened at the local post office between two sales associates and me.  A few weeks ago, I signed up for a P.O. Box for my company.   As is often the case, I misplaced the receipt a few days later.  Several hours of searching the house was unsuccessful and I finally admitted defeat.

So off I went to the post office.  I told the two associates my dilemma and that I needed another receipt for income tax purposes.  The sales associates were not impressed.  I was met with comments like: “We don’t that”, “we don’t just randomly print receipts”, and  “it’s the customer’s responsibility to take care of their receipt after the purchase”.  I wasn’t too happy either.  I replied with comments like:  “How complicated can it be to print  a receipt?” and “why can’t you just give me something in writing?”.

Despite my pleas, I could see we weren’t going anywhere.  Just before turning around and leaving, I tried one last thing.  I told the two people that my P.O. Box address was written on the receipt and I hadn’t written it down anywhere else.  Could they at least print something with the address written on it?  Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to use the P.O. Box at all.  This time, they saw some logic in my reasoning.  Sure enough, they had all my information on their computer and it took them less than a minute to print the sheet.  When I looked at the printout, I realized there was a lot more information on it than I had asked for.  In addition to the address, there was the type of P.O. Box I ordered (business / personal), the dimensions of the box, the expiry date,  and at the top, the transaction date and the amount I paid;  in other words:  a receipt.

Later when I thought about this curious incident, I realized what had happened.  The problem wasn’t that I didn’t  communicate clearly.  Rather, my communication only yielded results once I changed  the message to better suit the people on the receiving end.  When I first asked for a second receipt, the associates immediately became defensive.  The word ‘receipt’ to them represented something very official and sacred.  It was something that could only be given in certain situations.  I was asking them to do something outside of normal protocols:  print a receipt in the absence of a transaction.  Only when I changed my request from ‘printing a receipt’ to ‘giving me something with my P.O. Box address written on it’  were they willing to even consider a way of helping me.

The lesson here is this:  when communicating, we should always keep in mind the person on the receiving end.  We will have much better success of getting 0ur point across if we change our communication style to match that of the receiver.  If the other person is reserved and shy, don’t be too aggressive in trying to get your point across.   If they’re analytical, use facts and figures to give them what they need.  If they’re outgoing, strike up a conversation before saying what you had in mind.  In my case:  avoid using ‘official’ sounding words with a sales associate if I am requesting something outside of ‘official protocol’.  Keeping the person on the receiving end in mind makes the difference between communicating to express yourself and communicating to get results.

A few months back, I contacted  a leading association for small and medium businesses to inquire about becoming a member.  The person on the other end replied that she could meet me in half an hour to give me a  presentation on how everything worked.  I was so impressed by this level of service that I brought my checkbook to the meeting, ready to sign up.  However, about an hour after our meeting, I walked out of the coffee shop, blank check in hand, and somewhat disappointed.  So what happened?

Few would disagree that sales is one of, if not the most important function of a company.  I believe this also holds true for the non-profit sector.  The problem is that many businesses (especially small businesses), associations, etc., continue to use an outdated sales model.

The overall sales process can be broken down into 4 steps:

1. Needs analysis.
2. Resolution of the problem.
3. The offer.
4. The conclusion.

I recently attended a workshop by a marketing expert who outlined two approaches to sales:  the traditional and relational.  In the traditional approach, salespeople spend about 5% of total time analyzing the problem or the needs of a customer.  They spend another 10% discussing the variety of solutions to the problem.  The remainder, a full 85% is spent on the offer and the conclusion (35% and 50% respectively).

In the relational approach, the numbers are reversed.   Only 15% of total time is spent on the offer, 5% on the conclusion, and 80% is spent on needs analysis and resolutions (50% and 30% respectively).  Who would you choose to give your hard earned dollars to?  Someone who spends 85% of the time trying to get you to buy their product or service or someone who spends an almost equal amount of time trying to identify your needs and the exact nature of your problem?

There are a number of benefits to turning the traditional sales model upside down, three key ones being:

1. We change the nature of the exchange from transactional to relational.  People tend to do business with someone they like and trust.  When a someone takes the time to really listen to a client’s needs, it establishes trust.  He or she is also more receptive to information at later stages.
2. It forces the seller to really learn their product or service.  Why would someone need it?  Equally important, who wouldn’t need it?  What kind of needs does it address, etc.?
3. It encourages repeat business.  I still remember an encounter I had when I was 17, looking to purchase a pair of sneakers.  Even though I didn’t purchase anything the first time around, the service was so exceptional that I went back to the same store over and over again for future purchases.  In his  classic book on marketing, Duct Tape Marketing, author John Jantsch  writes that for most businesses, the greatest opportunity comes from selling to existing clients and from referrals.  The relational approach to selling facilitates success on both fronts.

Going back to my meeting with the representative, she spent a full 45 minutes of our 1 hour meeting explaining all the positive things about her association.  She explained some of their key accomplishments, which were very impressive.  She went on to talk about the size of their membership and specific cases of how a member directly benefited from their intervention.

It wasn’t until after 45 minutes when I mentioned I had to leave that she asked me if I had any questions.  I said that it was great that so many business owners were a part of their association.  I had just finished developing my language training product and I was now looking for clients.  Since I was targeting the corporate sector, I naturally wanted to join associations and local chambers of commerce where I could come into contact with key decision makers.  I asked her if her association  held periodic events (e.g. networking events, workshops, seminars, etc.) where I would have the chance to meet other members?  She replied no.  The bulk of their efforts focused on lobbying the government for regulatory changes (something they were exceptionally good at).  They didn’t offer much in terms of networking activities.

I replied that being at the start up phase of my business, I wanted to direct my limited marketing budget to things that would get me sales.  Although I believed in the importance of lobbying for the small business community, it wasn’t my priority at the time being.

Naturally, she was disappointed, especially after all the effort she put into her presentation.  However, if she had  spent more time in the beginning trying to understand my motivations for joining, she would have been able to assess that their was a mismatch between what I wanted and what she had to offer.  She could have also done this over the phone and saved 1 hour of her time.

Too often, we get so caught up with all the great things about our product that we forget the client in the process.  The whole reason behind its existence is that it meets a particular need.

How can you sell me something if you don’t know what I need?